Paul Ryburn’s Journal

Extra Music Fest Flyer tent pass has been spoken for. Looks like I’ll be going tonight [...]

Well, a couple of days ago I found out that I have once again been invited to the Memphis Flyer tent for Music Fest this weekend, which means free beer, free Corky’s BBQ, and clean restrooms all weekend, and I can bring a guest. However, this year I’m going to decline the invitation. I’d [...]

Wow! 37 hits so far today! Is this journal really that interesting?

Today I got e-mail from a reporter from the Commercial Appeal. She wanted to interview me for Downtown Dweller, a regular feature in the Downtown/Midtown Appeal section that profiles a downtown resident. So she sent me 10 questions and I answered [...]

Yesterday I was sitting in the Tap Room on Beale, having a beer with some friends. A bum was walking around outside, and I decided to watch him for a while.

He’d lean against a trash can, and look around until he thought no one was watching. Then, when the coast was clear, he’d open [...]

I had a chance to return to teaching this week…but I’m not going to take it.

A few weeks ago, I was sitting at the bar and got to talking to the guy sitting next to me. He was an instructor at ITT, a for-profit university offering associate’s degrees. He told me he’s leaving at [...]

Been looking at my tracker, to find out how people find my blog. I had 23 hits today, which as far as I know is a record. Surprisingly, most of the hits weren’t from people in my apartment building, as I had thought. They’re from people searching on “Gloria Oliviae,” trying to figure [...]

- This weekend I found out that my journal has a significant readership from my building, Number 10 Main. I learned that the marriage rant hit close to home for one of my neighbors, and that another person is a regular at Blue Coast Burrito because of my journal.

- I asked how my neighbors knew [...]

As I write this, we are currently without a Pope. The college of cardinals will meet in the coming week to elect one. In this transitional time, I’ve been thinking what the next pope can do to reach a 21st-century audience.

I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s time for the pope to update his [...]

I have a new favorite T-shirt…it’s a black shirt with “38103″ printed on the front with big, bright digits. 38103, of course, is the Downtown Memphis zip code. It’s a great way to show pride in the neighborhood that has truly become my home. If you want to see what it looks like, [...]

Here’s something I just realized.

On average, I drink two 20-ounce bottles of Mountain Dew a day. Each 8-ounce serving has 110 calories, so that’s 550 calories a day that I consume by doing the Dew.

So I decided to whip out the calculator….if I switched to Diet Mountain Dew for a year, I would save over [...]